Seed treatment poses a risk to Europe’s bee population

A pesticide widely-used in the European Union may be causing European bee populations to decline, according to a report released yesterday (16 January) by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). At the same time, an industry report released yesterday concluded that a ban would cost the EU economy €17 billion.

The EFSA report concludes that coating seeds for sunflowers, oilseed rape and cotton with certain neonicotinoid insecticides threatens bees collecting nectar and pollen from these crops. The welfare of bees is closely monitored, because of their central role in the pollination process, and because of fears that disruption could negatively affect biodiversity.

EFSA was asked by the European Commission’s health department to review the risks of three neonicotinoids – imidacloprid, thiamethoxam and clothianidin – after a series of reports, including one for the European Parliament conducted by Austria’s environment agency, recommended a partial ban.

The Commission will start talks with member states on the issue on 31 January, and will decide on any ban or restriction after consultation. The companies that make the pesticides have until 25 January to respond to the EFSA opinion.

“There are some quite clear conclusions that have been drawn, and indeed those are quite concerning,” a Commission spokesperson said.

Anti-pesticide NGO PAN Europe called on Tonio Borg, the new European commissioner for health and consumer policy, to propose immediate withdrawal of neonicotinoids from the EU market. “Legally, Mr Borg has no other option since the pesticide [law in the EU] requires good evidence that no unacceptable effects for bees are posed,” said the group’s honeybee project co-ordinator, Martin Dermine. If no ban is proposed, the group says it will consider taking the Commission to court.

The pesticide industry claims that removing the products from the market would have adverse effects on the economy. An industry-backed study released yesterday suggested that a ban would cost €17bn over a five-year period and lead to the loss of more than 60,000 jobs.

According to Friedhelm Schmider, director-general of the European Crop Protection Association, the loss of these products would set European agriculture back years (see below). “Restricting neonicotinoid pesticides on the basis of potential risks will do nothing to improve overall bee health but would do enormous damage to farming and food production in Europe,” he said.

On Wednesday (23 January), the European Parliament’s environment committee will discuss the results of the Austrian report. Several member states, including France, have already banned the use of some neonicotinoids.

BENEFITS OF SEED TREATMENT

Seed treatment, the process of coating seeds with an insecticidal, antimicrobial or fungicidal chemical prior to planting, has become common in global agriculture. Treating seeds rather than plants saves money because the amount needed is much smaller and the risk of environmental damage is smaller.

But the neonicotinoid family of insecticides has become controversial because its use in seed coatings has been associated with recent dramatic drops in bee counts. Studies have argued that dust from treated seeds, particularly maize, has affected bee populations. Germany and the Netherlands have been exploring improvements to planting drills to minimise dust release, and other research has examined modifying treatment compounds to prevent the product breaking up into dust.

A study released on 16 January – paid for by Bayer Crop Science and Syngenta and supported by the European Crop Protection Association, farmers organisation Copa-Cogeca and the European Seed Association – quantified the benefits of neonicotinoid seed treatment (NNi) to the EU economy. It calculates that: ? NNi contributes more than €2bn annually to commodity crop revenues in the EU, and reduces production costs by €1bn.

? Without NNi, the EU could lose €17bn and 50,000 jobs over a five-year period.

? If NNi were no longer available in the EU, the use of arable land outside the Union for imported crops would have to increase by 10%. The EU currently uses 30 million hectares of such land. (The total amount of agricultural land in the EU is 137 million hectares.)

? A ban could cause yields for maize, sugar beet, barley and winter wheat to fall by 20%-40%.